Goldfingers gets a gold star

Bill Dorminy appears to have the golden touch.

Once a Chick-fil-A franchise operator, then head of Willy T’s in Dothan, Dorminy opened his own business several months ago — Goldfingers — and it appears to be a gold mine.

All puns aside, I believe Dorminy has hit it big with Goldfingers — located in the former Willy T’s building.

“About 12 months ago I decided to work on our own concept,” Dorminy said of branching out on his own.

Though chicken fingers would be the primary focus, Dorminy wanted the menu to be more extensive — to include the likes of pizza and hamburgers. He also wanted his restaurant to have a fun atmosphere, and much of the decor you see in the newly-expanded building came after a visit with Truett Cathy, the founder of Chick-fil-A.

Cathy opened Upscale Pizza in Atlanta over the past year, and Dorminy modeled some of his ideas from Cathy’s new business. There are pictures of classic cars on the walls, college football signs — lots of eye-catching stuff.

“Really what I was shooting for was a great family environment,” Dorminy said.

Actually the name Goldfingers came to light while he was coming up with a GF logo — which stands for Good Food and Good Friends.

So what about the food?

I’ve had many plates of fried chicken fingers over the years, and the ones I had recently at Goldfingers are among the best I’ve ever tasted. The batter was light and golden brown, and the chicken was plump and juicy. I ordered the two-piece snack — two chicken fingers, fries, toast and sauce for $3.59. Normally two chicken fingers wouldn’t do the job. These did.

“Our fingers come a little bigger,” Dorminy said.

He’s right — so don’t think you’re being short-changed on the two-piece snack or three-piece dinner. It should be enough for the average eater. There’s a five-piece dinner if you so desire. You can get the chicken grilled if you prefer.

Lunch specials for $5.95 includes a three-piece finger dinner with drink, or half-pound hamburger, fries and drink, or wings, fries and drink.

The special sauce for the fingers certainly stacks up well against the mayonnaise-ketchup kind of sauces many restaurants serve. Dorminy said he worked hard to develop a sauce that is unique. It is certainly good. If you dine in, as much sauce as you want is available for the taking.

I tried the hamburger on my most recent visit, and the half-pound burger was plenty good. While it doesn’t burst with flavor, it’s certainly a quality, good-tasting piece of hamburger meat with all the trimmings. It filled me up.

The pizza served is provided by Hunt Brothers, which is sold in 6,000 locations — mostly in convenience stores. Dorminy said Goldfingers is the only full-service restaurant featuring the Hunt Brothers pizza.

“Someone told me about Hunt Brothers — I never had heard of it,” Dorminy said. “I tried it, really liked it and contacted them. Mr. Hunt himself came down, and I told him I wanted them to be my pizza provider.”

The service from the employees I’ve encountered was very professional. That’s something Dorminy takes pride in. And it shows.

A second Goldfingers recently opened in Enterprise, located in the former Willy T’s building there.

If you want to find out more about Goldfingers, check its Web site at http://www.MyGoldfingers.com.

Or just drop by and give it a try.

It gets a gold star from me.

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Goldfingers
Location: 3656 Montgomery Highway, Dothan
Phone: 678-8111
Hours: 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday-Saturday
Rating: Three out of four stars